Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Washington 84, Cleveland 94.

Things I liked:
- A healthy Kyrie Irving and Anderson Varejao.
Huge games from the two players that Cleveland desperately needs to be healthy. 29 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists for Irving and 9 points, 23 rebounds and 9 assists from Varejao.
- Rebounding.
Varejao had a monster game on the boards with 23 rebounds, Thompson did his part with 10 as the Cavs out-rebounded the Wizards 54-39.
- Full-court press.
It was only every now and then, but it caught the Wizards by surprise. This team is athletic enough to pull that off, so it's a good thing to see.
- The energy of Varejao and Tristan Thompson.
They both played to the whistle, all game. That scrappy, hustle type play is what wins ball games, and they both play that way.
- The defensive play of Thompson.
As I said above, he plays a very valuable type of basketball. He alters shots, blocks them if he can and is always fighting for rebounds.
- Dion Waiters.
Waiters was the wildcard tonight. He played well, scoring 17 and stealing three. I can get used to seeing these kinds of performances from Waiters this year. Definite rookie of the year contender if he keeps this up.


Things I disliked:
- Luke Walton getting minutes in crunch time.
Self explanatory, I'd much rather have anyone else on our roster out there.
- Irving early foul trouble.
Kyrie had to sit three minutes in the first half that he should have been out there playing because of silly fouls.
- Cavs second team defense.
Twice, decent leads were shrunk because of lazy defense from the Cavs second team.
- Lack of production from CJ Miles.
1-5 shooting with 2 points. He also had three turnovers. He's a guy that has got to play better. He is going to be our second-team offense along with Boobie, he needs to get it figured out.
- Cleveland losing a 16-point lead.
The starters were pulled for rest and the team we had on the floor looked like a D-league team. Forcing quick shots, allowing easy shots, turning the ball over and committing bad fouls. Good thing they overcame the Washington run in the end.

Turning Point:
- The Cavs had lost an 16-point lead and trailed by two, Waiters pulled up and nailed a three and was fouled, converting a four-point play that put Cleveland up by two. They didn't trail again. 

Player of the Game: Anderson Varejao. 9 points, 23 rebounds and 9 assists. The rebounds and assists were career highs. Of course Kyrie's 29 points were very valuable, but you just can't argue with how valuable Varejao was tonight.

No comments:

Post a Comment